Myth of the Village on the Hill
The Mythical City of the Village on the Hill is a story considered to be part of common Elven and Human mythology, being recognized by both Titanist and Naturalist faiths, albeit in slightly different narratives. Common story Both the High Elven and Wood Elven versions of the myth have a very similar plot. It is said that in the aforementioned village on the hill once lived in peace and prospered, but one day, gradually a group of females took over the village, assuming control. They would shun males, encourage females to have sex with other females and hold orgies in public, while men would be forced to work solely that the women in the village would never miss a meal. Male children would be separated from their mothers, and female children would be indoctrinated to hate men. As a form of bread and circus policy by the all-female ruling elite, they would allow male spectators to watch the lesbian orgies, very often even let them drink and eat while watching, and even take a few males and appoint them as token male "leaders", to create the illusion of gender equality. However, men were still forbidden from touching females, and even looking at a female was considered almost as bad as rape. Several of the village elders - male and female alike - realized that this will lead to the village's extinction, as no children would be born, and the men would eventually revolt under the discrimination they faced. However, much to their dismay, the majority of men were kept from turning against the ruling elite by the bread and circus policies. Except one man, who - while initially opposed by most of the men, due to the bread and circus - who eventually gathered enough support to start a revolt, and overthrow the ruling elite in a bloodless revolution. Females and males would start forming monogamous heterosexual relationships again, and the village would prosper again, with the former revolutionary as their new leader. The revolutionary not only overthrew a system that oppressed one gender in favor of another, but also saved the village from extinction. Differences between the Wood Elven and High Elven versions While the story has a similar plot - a man starting a revolution to overthrow an all-female ruling class - several elements are different. The High Elven version In the High Elven version, the revolutionary is named Azamercus ( ), originally Ëzamerkos ( ), and it is said that he was originally a young - late teenage or early twenties - farmer and part-time lumberjack, who was brutally chased off by the story's vilain Famirza ( ) - or Thëmirza ( ) in earlier versions - after confessing his love to a female named Sirana ( ). At and after the incident, Azamercus gets shamed by the female mobs for "being a male big with an unhealthy attraction to someone as pure as a lady", much to the protests of Sirana, who actually returns his feelings. Due to the pleas of Sirana, Famirza let off Azamercus with a lighter punishment - being forced to work extra and receive less food, rather than beign beaten up or executed. After the incident, Azamercus, being very bitter, began agitating against the system, arousing the anger of Famirza and her cronies again, inviting bullies. Azamercus tries to convince all the men to join him in an exodus from the village, but it ultimately fails, and the males reject him in favor of being spectators at a lesbian orgy where free bread and wine were offered. Infuriated by the lack of support from fellow males, Azamercus has an angry outbreak, where he nearly kills another male, stopped only by Sirana. Azamercus, feeling defeated packs up his crops and begins leaving his village alone. Famirza and the ruling class laugh him off, but while Azamercus takes all of his crops with himself - along with Sirana - he manages to live off the bread made from his wheat and wild game in the nearby forest, the village begins suffering food shortages. The ruling government of the village sends an envoy to Azamercus, offering him a whole harem of females if he returns his crops to the village, but he rejects the offer. As days pass, more and more men start striking and joining Azamercus in his temporary exodus. Having gathered enough support, Azamercus then orders the males to make makeshift bows and spears out of flint and wood, and march into the village. The leading class laughs this off, and moons at the men, laughing that they will never take the village (even though the females did not have any weapons or warriors). Azamercus requests a peace talk for a compromise, but his offer is rejected. Instead, Famirza walks to him, spits on his leg, then attempts to murder him with a flint knife, only to be punched to death in the face by Azamercus. After that, the men almost begin their charge against the ruling government, but they surrender. Azamercus walks in victorious, and makes all sons reunited with mothers, husbands with wives, he outlaws the orgies. Soon afterwards, children begin to be born again, and Azamercus is venerated as a wise leader. The Wood Elven version In the Wood Elven version, the revolutionary is named Keizan (or Chésan in Artaburro) ( ), originally Kyaizan ( ) - a disgruntled hunter in his thirties, who was originally a prominent member of society, but lost his popularity once the mistandrists took over. He could not bear to watch as the ruling elite had orgies in public and openly defied nature and her laws, even going as far as killing little animals to anger Keizan and his friends. Keizan's first direct confrontation with the ruling came when he got into an almost-duel with the village's "mayor", Eisa ( ) - originally Yaisa ( ) - attempted to take the caracass of a deer shot down by Keizan and claim it as her own. Keizan refused to let go of what he rightfully claimed as his, and the debate almost escalated into a duel. Eventually, a judge declared that they should get an equal divide, which they did. Still angry at what he deemed injustice, Keizan ranted about this on and on to his friends, who while gave him sympathy, believed that his grief was overreaction. Not until Keizan's daughter came home, and started asking her father if he was really evil, if men were really evil. Infuriated once again, Keizan stormed to find the teacher and questioned her what she was teaching the girls, and why weren't the boys being taught anything anymore. The teacher - who initially refused to co-operate - told Keizan that the mayor, Eisa had ordered the "since boys are pigs, they should be only taught what pigs need to do - to bathe in mud" and that "girls are meant to be educated properly". Keizan refused to beieve the latter, as he could not fathom how brainwashing girls into hating males - including their own fathers and brothers - could count as "giving girls proper education". The following days, Keizan began making public speeches about the evils of their government, and openly defied their authority as they tried to silence them. It got so out of hand, that Eisa almost shot him with a bow while he was denouncing her. Infuriated once again, Keizan asked Eisa out to a duel, to which she agreed. After what was described as an epic duel, Keizan eventually won, plunging his sword into Eisa's heart, who was about to decapitate him before. All the female leaders recoiled, but eventually, they declared Keizan a criminal, and he had to flee. Men would remain silenced by bread and circus for a week or two, until they finally began joining Keizan, who lead a decisive assault against the rulers. After overpowering them, he personally killed the surviving ringleaders, but spared all the other females. The victorious Keizan was offered to be the new mayor of the village, but he refused, preferring to live as a solitary hunter with his family. Nevertheless, from that day on, he became a celebrated citizen of the village. Men and women would start to form monogamous heterosexual relationships again, children would be born again, things would return to normal - the way they were before the misandrists took power. Interpretations Both Titanist and Naturalist theologists interprete the myth as a lesson that matriarchies are harmful to society, and that same-sex sexuality is unnatural. However, the homophobic nature of the myth is to be questioned, as to coutner the myth, several other myths have homoerotic subtext within. Nevertheless, the Church of Titanius - especially later Inquisitions - would use this myth as justification to punish homosexuals, and eventually invent the Sodobane. Several theologians argued that this myth was a good justification for patriarchy, but mainstream Titanist theology rejected that, preferring the notion that the myth teaches that "matriarches are evil - patriarches are less evil, but ultimately, only gender equality is good". The myth does not deal with how the females went from having lesbian orgies back to monogamous heterosexual relationships - it can be argued that they were bisexual to begin with; or that Keizan/Azamercus began forcing them to sleep with males and bear children; or they realized that even if not all of them are attracted to men, bearing children is vital for survival. The official position of both religions is that they were simply brainwashed to be attracted to fellow women, and wisened up - realized that they loved men - after Keizan/Azamercus succeeded with his revolution. The Dark Elven Mori Templa Mellon clan would interprete the myth as heavily misogynistic, to the point of turning the names "kézan" and "azamerk" into synonyms of "oppressor" and "oppression" or "evil", while both Famirza and Eisa would be venerated as martyrs. "Sirana" would become a synonym of "traitor". Origins Since both the Titanist and Naturalist religions share the myth, it is argued that the myth's origins are in the Proto-Elven religion, as the Proto-Elves reputedly also had the practice of ritually executing - or sacrificing? - homosexuals, as opposed to societies native to Artograch who usually tolerated homosexuality. The Proto-Elves however lived in a gender-equal society: patriarchies would only arise in High Elven and Human societies, and even in them, women would never be outright oppressed, simply discouraged from occupations not intended for them. In fact, Froturn would end up having several Queens and prominent female politicians. It is very unlikely that the myth is based off real events, but more likely, it was originally a folkloric tale from oral tradition that found itself integrated into religious mythology, as a lesson to discourage sodomy and encourage males and females to "know their place". Category:Church of Titanius Category:Cult of Nature